BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University men's basketball team made its official 2021-22 Carver Gym debut and sent the home crowd home happy with a 10-point 87-77 victory over Concordia University of Irvine Friday evening to conclude the first day of the Chuck Randall Classic.
 
The Vikings (1-2) built a 22-point lead early in the second half and then held off a hard-charging Concordia (1-2) team to pick up the first win of the season. WWU opened the campaign with a pair of narrow one-point defeats on the road last weekend in California.
 
Junior guard/forward Jalen Green led the Vikings with 18 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots while shooting 8-for-11 from the field.
 
A total of five Vikings reached double-figures in scoring, with junior guard Daniel Hornbuckle and sophomore guard D'Angelo Minnis pouring in 14 points each. Senior forward Dakota Ayala was efficient with 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting and grabbed six rebounds in 13 minutes of action.
 
Overall the Vikings shot at a 58.2-percent clip going 32-for-55 from the field, including 5-for-10 from 3-point range and were also 18-for-23 (78.3%) from the free throw line. WWU also held a 34-31 lead in rebounding and 8-4 in blocked shots.
 
The Eagles were led by a game-high 24 points from guard Wayne Arnold, who was 7-for-16 from the field and 7-for-7 from the free throw line. Josh Caston added 18 points on 7-for-15 shooting.
  WWU built its largest lead of the game at 22 points (57-35) with 16:57 remaining in the game. CUI cut the deficit to single digits going on a 17-4 run to trail by nine points at 61-52. The Vikings maintained a double-digit lead until the Eagles used a 6-0 spurt to pull to within four points at 70-66 with 7:57 remaining.
 
The Vikings answered with a 5-1 run to grow the lead to eight points and put the game away on a 3-pointer by Jalen Green at the 1:56 mark to extend the lead to 10 points at 82-72.
  The Vikings held a 18-point 49-31 lead at halftime, led by 10 points from Jalen Green, nine points from Dakota Ayala and eight each by Daniel Hornbuckle and Lucas Holden. WWU shot at a torrid 57.6% clip in the opening 20 minutes, connecting on 19-of-33 shots.
 
The Vikings trailed early 11-8 just over four minutes into the game, but Hornbuckle hit back-to-back 3-pointers to jump-start a 13-6 run. WWU continued its stretch of good play expanding the run to 26-12 to take a 34-23 lead. Holden hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 3:09 left to grow the lead to 14 points at 41-27. WWU ended the half on a 13-4 run to build the 18-point lead.
  Seattle Pacific opened the Chuck Randall Classic with a nine-point victory over Azusa Pacific. Guard Divant'e Moffitt led all players with 27 points on 8-for-12 shooting and was 11-for-13 from the free throw line. SPU had a 35-27 lead at the half and held off a late charge by the Cougars to improve to 2-3 on the season. Harry Cavell added 13 points and seven rebounds for the Falcons and Shaw Anderson contributed 11 points. Allan McBride had 22 points on a perfect 7-for-7 shooting to lead APU.
  WWU is back in action Saturday with the final game of the Chuck Randall Classic taking on Azusa Pacific (0-3) in the 7:30 pm game. Seattle Pacific (2-3) will play Concordia University Irvine in the 5 pm game. Both games will stream live on Vikings TV and feature live statistical updates with direct links at wwuvikings.com/Live.
 
The complete 2021-22 WWU Men's Basketball Schedule can be viewed online at wwuvikings.com/21-22_MBB, complete with links to purchase tickets and live coverage links for webcast and live stats.
  Fans wishing to purchase season tickets for the 2021-22 season can call the WWU Box Office at (360) 650-6103 to reserve their seats for the upcoming season.
  One of the premier basketball programs in NCAA Division II, WWU has recorded a 20-win season in eight of the last 11 seasons. WWU is a six-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion and has appeared in the NCAA II Elite 8 three times. The Vikings won the 2011-12 NCAA Division II National Championship and advanced the following season to the NCAA II Final Four. Western has 20-win seasons in three of the last four years (and seven of nine) and won the 2020 GNAC Championships Tournament. WWU is the 12th winningest Division II program with its 1,515 all-time victories.